166 Scientific Geology. 



ing period, before he gives us an account of the earth in its present 

 state, and of the creation of its present inhabitants, all apparent col- 

 lision between geology and revelation vanishes. Such an opinion I 

 have adopted, not merely because facts in geology demand it, but be- 

 cause it seems equally required by a fair interpretation of the lan- 

 guage of Moses. 



But to return from this digression ; it seems to me that the fair re- 

 sult of all the facts and reasonings which I have presented on the 

 subject of diluvial action is, that a mighty deluge has swept from the 

 north ,and northwest over every part of Massachusetts; and that it 

 cannot be accounted for by the original elevation of the strata of 

 rocks ; nor can our diluvial phenomena be explained by the agency 

 of rivers, rains, frosts, or any other agent now in. action. This del- 

 uge must, then have occurred since the earth's surface assumed essen- 

 tially its present form ; and was the last of those catastrophes to 

 which this part of the globe has been subject ; and which cannot be 

 referred to existing agencies. The enquiry naturally arises, whether 

 this deluge was identical with that described by Moses. I have al- 

 ready remarked that this question can have no very great interest as 

 bearing upon the veracity of the sacred historian ; since nearly all 

 geologists agree that their science exhibits no evidence against the 

 occurrence of such a deluge as he has described. Yet, as it is a 

 characteristic of human nature to go from one extreme to another, 

 and as it has been customary to impute almost every geological 

 change to the deluge of Noah, is it not probable that philosophers, 

 disgusted with so much false reasoning on the subject, will be apt to 

 overlook even creditable geological evidence of that event ? I have 

 shown, if I mistake not, that the last deluge in Massachusetts was 

 universal, and that it was comparatively recent. The deluge of Noah 

 is described as universal over the globe ; and historical records give 

 us no account of one more recent. Where then is the objection 

 against considering them as identical ? Until some substantial rea- 

 son can be given against such a conclusion, is it not unphilosophical 

 to refuse to admit it ? 



I have thus far reasoned exclusively from diluvial action in Mas- 

 sachusetts. But there is evidence that the last deluge rushed from 

 the north over all that part of North America, between Nova Scotia 

 and Lake Huron. Dr. Bigsby has stated facts in the sixth volume 

 of the Geological Transactions, and the Messrs. Lapham, more re- 

 cently, in the 22d volume of the Am. Jour, of Science, proving the 



